


The Right One Came Along

by everywinter



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Hockey, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 07:47:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16404254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everywinter/pseuds/everywinter
Summary: There's no game like a good, old hockey game.-The Check, Please! inspired AU about boys playing hockey and falling in love.





	The Right One Came Along

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from [I've Got This Friend - The Civil Wars](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iKLl6LeJxU).

Dowoon’s been at Samwell for an entire month and he still isn’t sure all of this is real sometimes. He’s figure skated his entire life, but there isn’t exactly a scholarship for that, so when someone jokingly suggests he send some of his championship skates in his audition tape, Dowoon figures he doesn’t exactly have anything to lose. He really hadn’t expected to be put on the varsity hockey team.

 

It’s an experience, to say the least. The team really was like a family. They had dinner together every Sunday at The House, and Dowoon never has to sit alone in any of his classes. He makes fast friend with his roommate, Youngjae, and the freedom of being away from home for the first time is exhilarating.

 

The only problem is the checking. Figure skating is, by nature, a solo sport and hockey is anything but. Every time someone brushes up against him, he freezes up and it’s turning into a little bit of a problem. No one’s mean about it, but their first game is coming up, and Dowoon can tell his teammates are getting concerned. Especially Sungjin. He isn’t mean, but Dowoon can tell that he’s getting frustrated because his eyes get all crazy and he presses his lips into this thin line.

 

One day, during practice, Jinyoung runs into him by mistake and Dowoon falls over like one of those fainting goats. Jinyoung trips over Dowoon’s skates and ends up spraining an ankle. Sungjin loses it.

 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Sungjin gets up into his face, but Dowoon doesn’t flinch, glares back. “Is this a game to you? Either get with the program, or quit! You’re a hazard to us all!”

 

Dowoon wants to yell back  _This IS a fucking game!_ , but Jaebum skates up behind Sungjin and pulls him away. Sungjin glares at him from over his shoulder, but follows Jaebum off the ice. Dowoon glares right back.

 

By the time he gets back to the change room, Sungjin’s blessedly absent. He throws off his padding and takes a couple seconds to just lean back against his cubby, eyes closed.

 

“Hey, Woonie,” Brian rubs his sweaty hair affectionately. “don’t worry about Sungjin. He always gets really anal near the end of pre-season.”

 

“He’ll be back to regular levels of spine-snappingly tense after the first game.” Jae laughs.

 

“Hey,” Wonpil tosses the towel he’d been using to wipe his skates off directly at Jae’s face. “give him a break! You know he’s under a lot of stress. Sophomores never make captain and he feels it'll be all his fault if we don't win.”

 

“It’s okay.” Dowoon says, “I’m not going to hold it against him. I know I need to do better too, it’s just that I’m still getting used to this contact thing.”

 

A matching pair of sly grins spread over Wonpil and Brian’s face. “We can help with that.”

 

The next thing Dowoon knows, he’s being smothered by two sweaty hockey players and Jae’s laughing his head off in the background. They stink, and it’s awful, and Dowoon’s happy again.

 

The captain’s a little of an enigma. He’s nice, but demanding. Friendly, but closed off. He’s perfectly willing to roughhouse with everyone to celebrate a goal, but off the ice, he won’t even shake hands. Sungjin’s got the sickest flow, but refuses to grow a playoff beard with the rest of them. He’s a gross, sweaty dude like the rest of them, but he’s also followed Wonpil around with a broom and dustpan while he drunkenly walked around The House eating cookies before.

 

Maybe it’s just that Dowoon’s not used to having a captain at all, but even when he wants to strangle Sungjin with his bare hands, he can’t help but admire him. It feels strange.

 

Game one is even more like a dream. The entire time, Dowoon’s shaking in his skates, totally terrified of getting checked. Thankfully, everyone mostly avoids him, but when the puck flies towards him he freezes.

 

The opposite team’s defenceman is sprinting towards him, hulking and giant, and Dowoon feels like he’s about to faint when he hears Jae yell, “Woonie!”

 

He flings it over to him as quickly as he can and the next thing he knows, the entire stadium is in an uproar. The game’s over, everyone’s screaming and hugging, and Dowoon’s smiling so hard, he feels like his face might crack in half. Everyone goes back to The House, still cheering and causing a huge ruckus. Jae, Brian, and Wonpil all cling to him the whole night and they pass him drink after drink after drink.

 

Everyone hales Jae and him the heroes of the night, and Yugyeom's girlfriend makes them these ridiculous crowns out of beer boxes that they wear around the party.

 

“Alright, you losers!” Jackson calls from on top of the dining room table. “Gather round.”

 

He spins around until he sees Dowoon. “It’s House Rules that the freshman who gets the first point of the year has to do the first keg-stand of the year too!” He holds his hands out dramatically. “Bring forth the sacrifice!”

 

Dowoon laughs as Brian and Jae hoist him onto their shoulders, getting ready to flip him upside down. “Why is Jackson bossing everyone around, he’s not even on the team?”

 

Brian shrugs and it jiggles Dowoon’s leg. “He’s Jaebum’s man, and he and Mark are pretty much joined at the hip. He’s like our mascot.”

 

“Gentlemen!” Jackson’s peering down at them, goofy grin on his face. “Less chit-chat, more alcohol abuse!”

 

Dowoon takes it like a champ and when he’s upright again, among all the back slapping and whooping, he realizes that he hadn’t seen Sungjin all night. He’s about to ask Jae where he is, he lives in The House after all, but Wonpil jumps onto his back. They end up in a jousting match with pool noodles against Yugyeom and Bambam, which they lose spectacularly, and Dowoon doesn’t really think about Sungjin again.

 

Game two goes absolutely horribly. Dowoon thinks he has a good handle on this checking situation, but one of the defensemen rams him into the boards so hard that he sees stars and he’s shaking so violently that Brian has to escort him off the ice. While their medical staff looks him over, Jae’s yelling at the defenceman so loudly that Dowoon can hear him over the ringing in his head. Someone from the other team yells something horribly homophobic, and then all hell breaks loose. Wonpil completely loses his shit and straight up head-butts the asshole in the face, rattling both their helmets so hard that even Dowoon winces. The game ends in a tie, and although no one’s particularly happy, the team seems more worried about Dowoon than anything else.

 

Wonpil frets over him the worst, completely ignoring his own slowly swelling eye.

 

“Are you sure you’re okay, Woonie?” He keeps wringing his hands while Dowoon slowly lowers himself onto the couch. “Do you need anything? Advil? Tylenol?”

 

“I’m fine, I promise.” He gestures at Wonpil’s eye. “I think you should probably get some ice on that, it looks bad.”

 

“You heard the kid.” Brian ushers Wonpil onto the couch beside Dowoon, Jae coming up behind them with an icepack wrapped in a towel. “You’re going to look like a mess tomorrow if we don’t deal with this now.”

 

“I still can’t believe you headbutted that guy, he was like 6'3", at least 220lbs.” Jae gently pressed the pack to Wonpil’s face, ignoring his dramatic wince. “You’re the smallest one on the team, yet you’re always the one who’s getting into shit first.”

 

“You heard what he said about you, ouch!” He glares when Jae presses more firmly against the bruise. “Gentle with the merchandise! I wasn’t about to let him get away with that sort of bullshit.”

 

“You’re just always ready to fight.” Brian rolls his eyes and dodges the kick Wonpil sends in his direction. “See? Resorting to violence first. I’m starting to think that joke about short people being so angry because they’re closer to hell is true.”

 

“Ohhh, don’t let Jamie hear you saying that,” Jae says, “those are fighting words.”

 

Their team manager’s barely 5’3” and she manages to keep their team under control. Jamie’s super cool, but she has the ability to strike fear into the very depths of people’s souls. The first House party Dowoon attended, she’d intentionally gone out of her way to make sure that he was having a good time. She’d teased him, ruffled his hair, even though she had to stand on her tippy toes to get to him, and even though they’re both freshman, she carries an air of confidence that he lacks. Dowoon adores her.

 

“Seriously though, Dowoon, you okay?” Brian asks, “That guy hit you pretty hard.”

 

“I’m alright. I’d probably kill someone for a bath though.”

 

“We have a tub, just take one here.” Jae gestures to Brian's room on the first floor. “You can borrow some of Bri’s stuff.”

 

“I don’t want to impose…”

 

“You wouldn’t be imposing, even though Jae keeps offering my shit up to people without asking.” He glares at Jae without heat before pulling Dowoon over to his room. “Tub’s clean, I washed it this morning. I assume you know how to use personal grooming products.”

 

Brian puts his shower caddy and a towel into his hands before shooing Dowoon into the bathroom. He plugs the tub, and pours some of Brian’s shower gel under the running water. It fills quickly and Dowoon can’t help grinning like a little boy at the sight of the tub full of bubbles. The hot water burns like a motherfucker and he can’t help groaning when it hits his sore muscles. The tub’s big enough that Dowoon fits, but only just barely, and the tops of his knees stick out from the water. He can’t remember the last time he actually took a bath, but this is unexpectedly nice.

 

A knock sounds at the door and before Dowoon can respond, the door’s pushed open.

 

“Woah, woah, occupied!”

 

Thankfully, the bubbles cover the majority of Dowoon’s body, but it’s too late and Sungjin’s already fully in the bathroom. He's barely awake, eyes half lidded, but when he and Dowoon lock eyes, he snaps to attention.

 

“What are you doing in here?” Sungjin screams, “Where’s Brian?”

 

“Taking a bath!” Dowoon sinks even deeper under the water until only his head’s above the bubbles. “He’s probably outside with the other two-thirds of the terrible trio!”

 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I smelled Brian's body wash and just sort of assumed he was the one in here.” Sungjin’s bright red. “I was half asleep and I didn’t realize anyone was in here.”

 

Dowoon wants to call him out on the fact that he just contradicted himself, but the hot water’s relaxed him enough that he just shrugs. “It’s okay, it happens, I should have locked the door.”

 

Sungjin seems to struggle with himself for a moment. “That guy hit you pretty hard. You sure everything’s feeling okay? Head injuries are nothing to sniff at.”

 

”I’m fine.” Dowoon resists the urge to roll his eyes and sunk deeper into the bubbles to hide his blush. “The medics checked me out, they said I was more shocked than anything.”

 

“You need to work on that.” Sungjin says seriously, crossing his arms across his chest. “See what I meant before when I said your freezing was dangerous?

 

”I know,” Dowoon actually rolls his eyes this time. “I get it. I’ll get Brian to practice with me more.”

 

They stare at each other for a couple more seconds and it’s unbelievably uncomfortable. Dowoon clears his throat and raises an eyebrow, glancing at the door meaningfully.

 

“Oh, right! Oh my god,” Sungjin holds up his hands in surrender. “sorry, leaving now!”

 

He almost trips over himself trying to get out of the bathroom and Dowoon bites down on his lower lip to smother his laughter. He can hear Sungjin swearing all the way back upstairs to his room. Dowoon chuckles about it periodically for the rest of his bath.

 

The next Sunday, after all the sore spots are just memories, Dowoon’s woken up by someone gently shaking his shoulder. “Wake up, Yoon.”

 

He barely smothers his scream when he sees Sungjin standing at the foot of his bed. Dowoon’s expression must be hilarious, because a huge grin spreads over Sungjin’s face.

 

“Get dressed, loser, we’re going skating.”

 

Dowoon rubs his eyes. “Are you seriously quoting Mean Girls at me?” He glances at his phone. “Sungjin, it’s 4:00 a.m. in the morning. How did you even get in here?”

 

“Wonpil gave me his key, I’ll wait for you in the hall.” He stomps back out, closing the door behind him and Dowoon just sits there, stunned.

 

_How did Wonpil get a key?_

 

Youngjae snores.

 

They get to the practice rink and it’s completely empty (for the obvious reason that it’s _4:00 a.m. in the fucking morning_ and all the other reasonable human beings are still sleeping). Dowoon wishes he was still at home rather than standing against the boards in his full gear, wishing desperately for a coffee.

 

Sungjin always moves like there’s something powerful curled right against the surface of his skin and it’s even more obvious on the ice. He can’t do an axel or a lutz, but he looks lovely while skating all the same.

 

“Alright,” Sungjin rolls his shoulders and starts slowly making his way towards Dowoon. “get ready.”

 

The next thing Dowoon knows, he’s being pressed up against the boards and he can feel Sungjin’s shoulders digging into his through the padding. “Stop, stop, stop!”

 

“Come on, square up! Push back, Yoon!” He shoves against him harder. “Push off and skate through.”

 

He turns around, gives Sungjin a shove with his arms, and crumples onto the ice, knees to his chest.

 

“Come on, I came at you slow and I’m not even wearing pads. You’ve gotta get over this if you’re going to play!”

 

“Don’t you think I know that!” He looks up, blinking back tears, and glares up at Sungjin. “It’s not like I want to be this way, I can’t help it! I’m trying, I swear!”

 

The tears shock Sungjin back into a calmer state. “Woah, don’t cry, I just…” He sighs and brushes a hand over his face, crouches down in front of Dowoon. “Listen, you’re a good player. You’re fast on your feet and you’ve got good hands. I’ve seen you roughhousing with Brian before, you can do this, it isn’t all that much different. Trust me, Dowoon.”

 

Sungjin’s face is earnest and this is probably the most he’s ever spoken to him. He wipes his nose on the back of his hand, stands up, and nods. “Alright, but you’re buying me breakfast after this.”

 

Sungjin spends the next two hours constantly checking Dowoon against the boards, and Dowoon spends the next two hours internally cursing Sungjin’s name. The bottomless pancakes they get at the greasy diner down the street only somewhat makes up for it.

 

After his second stack of pancakes, Sungjin pushes all his sausages and back bacon onto Dowoon’s plate. “You need to eat more protein.”

 

He stubbornly ignores them and shoves three more banana slices into his mouth. "Are you my captain, or my mom?"

 

"You're too skinny," Sungjin insists, "eat the sausages, Yoon."

 

Dowoon waits until Sungjin's trying to get the waitress' attention and pushes all of the meat back onto his plate. Sungjin rolls his eyes and gives Dowoon his eggs instead. Those, he eats.

 

Two hours before the third game starts, Dowoon’s sent on an errand to get drinks from the vending machine all the way across the arena from the locker room. It's the only one stocked with peach juice, and Wonpil had whined and pouted until Dowoon caved and agreed walk over and buy it for them. Honestly, he fucking hates this vending machine. The lights are always flickering and strange, and it’s always freezing cold over here, even considering they’re next to an ice rink. Dowoon doesn’t believe in ghosts the way Jae does, but he has to admit that this hallway gives him the heebies.

 

He’s powerwalking over to the vending machine, eyes trained to the floor, and when he gets there, he looks up and scares this shit out of Sungjin who’s sitting on a bench right next to the machine.

 

Sungjin screams, which makes Dowoon scream and jump so hard that he drops all the change that his teammates gave him onto the ground. He scrambles to pick everything up and Sungjin pops up to do the same.

 

“Geeze, Yoon, you scared the life out of me.” Sungjin says, handing all the coins back to him. “What are you doing all the way over here anyway? Is everyone okay?”

 

“Yeah, everyone’s fine, Wonpil insisted on peach juice though.” He feeds all the coins into the machine and pulls out the various drinks that his teammates had requested. “Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah, I just needed some alone time.”

 

Sungjin’s face is tense, he looks pale, and withdrawn. “You don’t look so good.” Dowoon blurts out, shoving his grape juice into his hands. “You should have some. In case your blood sugar’s low.”

 

He stares at Sungjin until he cracks open the can and takes a deep swig of it. It immediately stains his lips a faint purple. “Thanks.”

 

“No problem.” Dowoon gets ready to take all the drinks back and almost drops them while trying to pile all the cans in his arms.

 

“Let me.” Sungjin grabs about half the cans and starts off in the direction of the locker room.

 

“Wait, what about your alone time?” Dowoon picks up his pace to keep up. “I can just pile them all in my hoodie or something, don’t worry about it.”

 

“I’m okay,” Sungjin smiles at him and it brightens his whole face. “I think you were right about the blood sugar.”

 

“My mom has diabetes, so I know all the signs. I used to always keep a juice box in the car just in case. I instinctively bought a pack of them by mistake last time I went grocery shopping, so if you’re ever feeling kind of weird and you’re close by, you can stop by my dorm.”

 

Sungjin laughs, “Do you always ramble when you’re nervous?”

 

“What? I’m not nervous; I’m just sort of a talkative person.”

 

“Yoon, your ears are redder than a tomato.” Sungjin smiles, “Don’t worry, you’ll do great.”

 

“I know, I had a good teacher.”

 

The game’s going well, they’re ahead by two points, when Brian gets checked by this _massive_ guy on the other team and Dowoon feels his soul leave his body. He isn’t even the one getting checked and he’s already shaking. He wants nothing more than to skate off the ice, but Jae shouts his name and the next thing he knows, he’s got the puck. Dowoon panics and skates away from the defencemen as fast as he can, flings the puck towards the goal, and to his shock it goes in.

 

The alarm sounds and everyone’s screaming, because the game’s over and they’ve _won_. It’s like something out of a lifetime movie, the perfect ending, because the whole team’s piled towards him. He’s being squished between all these bodies, but he’s laughing too. Wonpil and Brian are bawling, Jae’s laughing at them but Dowoon can see the tears in his eyes, and maybe he’s crying a little too.

 

“Dowoon!” Sungjin’s standing at the edge of the crowd, helmet off, beaming like it’s the happiest day of his life.

 

Dowoon pulls his helmet off too and his teammates part to let him skate over to Sungjin. His face hurts from how hard he’s smiling.

 

“Great shot.”

 

“Thanks.” Dowoon’s heart is pounding in his chest and he pulls Sungjin forward by the front of his jersey and kisses him full on the lips.

 

Sungjin’s kissing him back, running his fingers through Dowoon’s sweaty hair, and it’s actually kind of difficult to hold onto each other with all their gear in the way. Their teammates are hooting and catcalling and he can distinctly hear Jae’s voice yelling, “HAH! You all owe me $20.00!”

 

They pull away, and Sungjin’s looking at him an eyelash clinging to his cheek and a huge smile on his face. Their teammates are swarming around them, yelling and shoving against them. Jinyoung gives him the worst noogie he’s felt in his life, and he can hear Youngjae screaming his name from all the way in the stands. He glances up again from under Jinyoung’s arm and catches Sungjin’s eye.

 

Sungjin winks at him and screams, “Party back at The House!”

 

Jinyoung lets go, and everyone’s back in an uproar. Sungjin takes the opportunity to get back next to Dowoon and pull him into another kiss. Dowoon fucking loves hockey.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the AMAZING webcomic Check, Please! Even if you don't like hockey, please give this comic a try, it's really good. Uplifting and fluffy.
> 
> My interest in hockey is limited to watching it on TV and getting way too invested whenever I'm at a friend's house, or it's on the TV at a pub. My favourite player retired last year and I've been too heartbroken to get really invested again.
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/everywinter1)/[Tumblr](https://everywinter.tumblr.com/)/[CC](https://curiouscat.me/everywinter)


End file.
